Hey, talk about hoops drama. Hollywood could not have scripted a better finality than last weekend's trip to the Final Four. Are you kidding me? Do I have this straight? First Louisville beats West Virginia in overtime. Than Illinois takes Arizona in overtime. But it wasn't finished. Last Sunday after North Carolina closed out Wisconsin, Michigan State and Kentucky went two overtimes.

Chris Lowery insists he's different. Different than Bruce Weber, who coached Southern Illinois to its first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in more than a quarter-century and left a year later for a bigger budget and higher profile at Illinois. Different than Matt Painter, who worked a season as Weber's successor steering SIU to a third NCAA berth in as many years and then split for Purdue.

College basketball's coaching carousel spins after every season, but rarely has a chain reaction of dominoes lined up so precisely as the one involving North Carolina, Kansas, Illinois and Southern Illinois.

Just hours after his mother died following emergency surgery, Illinois coach Bruce Weber decided to coach the top-ranked Illini in Saturday's Big Ten tournament semifinal game. Dawn Weber, 81, died about 6 p.m. Friday after undergoing surgery for a torn descending aorta. She was taken to Rush University Medical Center in Chicago after complaining of chest pains before the Illini beat Northwestern earlier in the day.

Guillaume Yango scored 23 of his career-high 27 points in the second half to lead No. 17 Pacific to its 20th straight victory, a 92-88 win over Cal State Fullerton on Thursday night. Elsewhere, Dee Brown scored a career-high 27 points and tied the Illinois record with eight three-pointers as the top-ranked Illini pounded Purdue 84-50.

Illinois' Bruce Weber isn't celebrating being the first coach in 100 years of Big Ten men's basketball with outright titles in his first two seasons. "I want the Cinderella story at the end where it's got a great ending," he says. Also, Ex-Iowa hoops star Pierre Pierce pleaded not guilty to assault charges.

Who fouled up the final reel for Gene Keady? It's a hard-hearted shame. This is what they all say, friend and stranger. That such a fierce and relentless and honest competitor should exit in such a battered way.

Bob Knight's chair toss remains a defining moments of the Indiana-Purdue rivalry as the teams play on Tuesday, one day short of its 20th anniversary. Purdue coach Gene Keady is the last remaining major link to Knight's outburst and will be coaching his final game at Assembly Hall.

Purdue coach Gene Keady remained home for Wednesday night's Big Ten basketball game at Ohio State because of the flu. Also, an NCAA committee has set March 29 as the date to hear Georgia's appeal to reduce its sanctions stemming from violations in 2003.

Senior Luther Head, potentially the most gifted player in a gifted Illinois backcourt, offered to leave the program last winter. He had been implicated in the burglary of an apartment; he was not charged but was suspended for two games.